Curtain-manipulating means.



J. T. BOYD, CURTAIN MANIPULATING MEANS,

APPLICATION FILED JULY 7, I915.

Paten M0. @1917.

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J. T. BOYD. CURTAIN MANIPULATING MEANS} APPLICATION FILED JULY 7, 1916.

Patented Dec. 4, 1917".

3 SHEETS-SNEET 2 Suva Mo e J. T. BOYD. CURTAIN MANIPULATING MEANS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1, ms.

Patented Dec. 4, 191K 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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OHN 'rl no'Ynlon iIAcKENsAoK, NEW JERSEY.

c R'rAm-MANIruL-a'rme eans.

Application filed. July 7, 1916. Serial Nd. 108,079.

To all whom it may concern: 1, 1

Be it known thatl, JOHN T. BOYD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the town ofl-lackens'ack, countyof Bergen, and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Curtain-Manipulating Means, of which thefollowing is a description.

My invention relates to means for manipulating curtainssuch as are used in theaters and otherpublic places, and particularly to means whereby a curtain of fireproof construction maybe lowered immediately in case of emergency. The movement of the curtain maybeautomatically effected by the melting of a fusible link, or

otherwise, producing a break in the conneci tions, as will be hereafter described,

One object of my invention is thelpro;

vision of meanswhichmay be setintoop eration at any time automatically or by an operatonto effectthe descent of the curtain. My improved apparatus, when operated by an operator, may be put into operation very rapidly andwith very slight effort.

In providing means of the kind above. referred to, it is part cularly important to preventany sudden descent of the curtain, since such a sudden movement is. apt to unduly excite the audience, and cause a panic.

i It is, therefore,ianother .object ofi my in I vention to so construct my curtain. manipulat ng means that the descent of the curtain,

while comparatively rapid, .will be :vpracticallyuniform and'free fromany suggestion ofsu ddenness 1 i With the above andother objects in view,

as will more fully hereinafter appear, my

invention includes the provision of. means for normally holding the curtain inelevated. position; means, such. asabrake, forLcon-i trolling or retarding the descent of the cur i tain; andfmeans adapted as be set in mo-. tion in an emergency to first. apply theicon-i trolling or ,retardingmeans, and then release the curtain from ,its holding means, By employing mechanisms operatingin this i way,'-I preclude the possibility of any uncontrolled 01f sudden'descent of the curtain. The; preferred embodiment of my invent on is illustrated in the drawing,accompanying and forming a part of this specification Referring to thedrawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation showing the manner in which improved manipulating means ,are applied to a curtain;

Fig. 2is a front elevation showing a winch for elevating the curtain;-

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the winch shown'in Fig 2, and shows the brake for controlling the descent of the curtain;

' "Fig, 4 is a side elevation of a portion of the curtain releasing mechanism; and.

Fig. 5 is a plan view thereof.

Referringin detail-to the drawing, 10 indicates a curtain or sliding door of any desired construction, but preferably fireproof, adapted to slide up and down in any suitable guides, such as shown at 11. The elevatingmeans for this curtaininolude the connectors 12 which are adapted to be wound upon thedrum 13, of any desired form of winch, such as that shown in Fig. o1- operated. by a steam or hydraulic mechanism. The means for actuating the drum 13, as hereinshown, include the pinion 14;, mounted on the shaft 15, and meshing with the-gear 16, and the pinion 18 which meshes with the gear 23 mounted on the shaft 24 uponjiwhich the drum 13 is also mounted. Thepinion 18 is secured to one of the members19 of a clutch of any desired or applicable type-the pinion and clutch member (18 and 19) being rotatably mounted upon the shaft 17. The other clutch member 20 is so secured as to rotate with the shaft 17, but is movable longitudinally thereon, so that it may be engaged or disengaged with. the clutch member 19 when desired. Any suitable means may be employed for effecting this longitudinal movement of the clutch memberQO, the means herein shown comprising; a rotatable pulley 21, screw-threaded to the shaft 17, and provided with a connector 22. "l/Vhen the pulley 21 is rotated by the connector22 in one direction, it will cause engagement of the clutch members 19, 20, and thus clutch the pinion 18 to the shaft 17 ,so thatrotation ofthe pulley 25, mounted on shaft 15, will effect the rotation of the drum13, and will elevate the curtain, Any, suitable means such as the oonnectoror belt 26 shown in Fig. 1, or engine or motor of any type, may be employed for rotating the pulley 25.

The curtain is normally prevented from descending by the cooperating ratchet and pawl 27, 28, as shown in Fig. 2, which normally hold the shaft 17 from reverse rotation. lVhen, however, thepulley 21 is rotated to disengage the clutch members 19, 20, the pinion 18 will be disconnected from the shaft 17, and the drum 13 will thus be disconnected from the ratchet and pawlv 27, 28, with the result that the curtain is permitted to descend.

In order to control or retard the descent of the curtain when freed from its restraining means, I provide upon the shaft 24 a brake-drum 29, with which the brake 30 is adapted to cooperate. This brake-drum may be located in any suitable position on shaft 24. I provide also normally restrained means for rendering this brake 30 effective,

which means may include the weight 31, which is connected to the brake-arm by the connector 32. "Another connector 33, extending from the weight 31, is wound upon the drum 34, which drum is provided at one end with a notched disk 35, with which the latch 36 cooperates, as shown in Fig. 4. The latch 36 thus operates to normally hold the weight 31 in its elevating position. The ratchet 37 mounted on the drum 34, and the pawl 38 which cooperates therewith, are merely for preventing reverse rotation of the drum when the weight is being manu-' ally elevated to restore the parts to normal position, and perform no function in the normal operation of the device, since at all times, except when the weight is being thus manually elevated, the pawl 38 is held out of engagement with the ratchet 37,by the removable pin 39, as shown at 38 in Fig. 4. ()nc end of the drum 34 is preferably squared as indicated at 40, so that awrench or handle may be conveniently employed for manually elevating the weight.

The latch 36, is pivoted at 41, and is so proportioned that it normally tends to move in a clockwise direction about its pivot, and v to thus release itself from the notch 35% This tendency 'of the latch 36 is, however,

engages a projection 48 on said latch 42/; This latch 47 is'pivotedat 49 and is normally held in the position indicated in full lines in Fig. 4 by a relatively light spring 50. In addition to the abovede'scribed normally restrained means for rendering the.

brake 30 effective, I provide other normally restrained means which when released operate, to render mefi'ective the means, herein shown as the ratchet and pawl 27, 28,for

preventing the descent of the curtain.

' straintof the ratchet and pawl 27, 28.

These latter normally restrained means include a weight .51 which is connected as shown at 52, with the chainuor belt/22 for rotatingthe pulley'21. The weight 51 is normally held elevated by a latch 53. It is evident that the clockwise movement of this latch will release the weight 51 and thus cause the chain or belt 22 to rotate the pulley 21 soas to disengage the clutch members 18, 19 and free the curtain from the re- The ratchet 27 may be adisk-box containing alternately connetc'ed disks or plates after the well known principle of the lVeston multiple disk clutch, and enables the drum 13 to be rotated to lower the curtain or door 10, by operating the pulley 21 in the reverse direction to that used in hoisting.

In order that there can be no sudden or uncontrolled descent of the curtain upon its release from its restraining means, I provide a mechanism,'which I will now describe, which may be readily set into op-, eration at any time automatically, as before mentioned, and with but slight exertiomfor first effecting the application of the brake or retarding means 30 and then effecting the release of the curtain from its restraining means- The master weight'54 is provided at its" topwith a pulley 55 around which passes the connector '56. Thisconnector is anchored at one end to a cleat 57 located at aconvenient and accessible point, passesthence around the pulleys 58, 59,55, 60 and 61,'and" its other end isanchored to another'cleat 62, also located in a convenient and accessible position,but preferably on the other side of the curtain from the cleat57. The connector 56 thus normally maintains the w'eight54-105 in elevated position; l/Vhen, however, an emergency arises, such as the breaking out of a fire behind the stage, which makes it necessary to lowerthe curtain "10, the weight 1 54 mayreadily be released from therestrain z 110 ing action of the connector 56. This maybe done either by disengagingeither one of the ends of the connector from the correspond ing cleat 57 or 62, orby cutting the con-'- nector at any point with a knife or by. the 115 automatic failure of one of the fusible links 63, a plurality of which "are'ishown inserted; in the connectors 56. In order that there '1 may beno delay in efi'ectingthe releasefj'o'f the master weight 54, Ipreferably locate 120 knives or other suitable severing devices at convenient points, r

The master weight 54 is provided with a; suitable connector 64 which passes over-the pulley 65 and is. providedat itsendwith a 125 cotter pin or similar device 66, Fig. 4-, which is received within'a recess 67 in the arm47 of latch 47, this cotter pin forming animpositive or releasable connection between the f weight 54 and the "latch 47. The latch 53 '130 and master weight are so arranged that the free end of the latch lies in the path of descent of the master weight 5%.

' The result of the release of the master weight 5a is as follows:

The connector 64 becomes tightened and cX'e-rts a pull upon the arm 47* of latch 47 (Fig. 4) suflicient to rotate this latch in a counter-clockwise direction and thus release in turn thelatches 42 and 36. f'lhe release been released, further descent of the weight will result in the Withdrawal of the cotter pin (36 from the aperture 67, and further descent of'the master weight 54 will there fore be independent of the latch 47. vIn the course of such further descent of the master weight 54-, the latch 53 will be met and will be moved in a clockwise direction to release the weight 51, as will be evident from an inspectionof Fig l. The release of weight 51 will, as above indicated, result in the rotation of the pulley 21 and the consequent disengagement of the clutch 19, 20, and the release and descent of the curtain.

it will be seen from the above that when the master weight 54 is released, eitherautomatically by the failure of onset the fusiblelinks, or manually by the severing of the connector 56, or the removal thereof from a cleat, the curtain will be released from its restraining means, but that such release cannot take place until after the application of the brake or retarding means 30. As a result of this construction, I prevent the possibility of any part of the curtains descent being sudden or uncontrolled, and thus preclude all danger of the descent of the curtain unduly exciting the audience. It is also obvious that there need be no delay in releasing the master weight 54:, since this may be done irom either side of the curtain or stage merely by severing the connector 56 with a lniife or severing device located at a convenient point adjacent the connector.

lVhiie l have shown herein and described the several normally restrained means as consisting of weights normally held against the action of gravity, it is obvious that an equivalent construction would be the substitution therefor of springs normally held under tension or compression, and that many other equivalent constructions may be employed.

The brake-mechanism shown in the drawings and described herein may be greatly varied to suit the needs of the particular apparatus to which my invention is applied.

Thrs instead of the block and lever type illustrated in the drawings, I may use a hand brake similar to that used on hoisting engines ormotor cars, a coil brake which is in the nature of an internal hand brake, a clamp brake such as is used in elevator installations, a friction-disk bti'alni oi the l Veston type, or any other suitable lcind may be employed.

While I have shown my invention-as applied to the controlling of the movement of a curtain, to which use it has been successfully applied in practice, it is ()iWlQllS that it may be applied to any d window, hatchway cover, or similar 1. an, and in the claims hereto appended l have used the word cur-lain" as a genera name for this class of devices. j

l'wisli it understood also tliat'l do not limit myself to the construction herein shown and described, since ()lJr'lOl'lSlY many changes may he made withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention,

hat 1 claim is V y H 1. in combination with a lireciirtain adapted for bothmanual and automatic operation, of means for releasing it for descent, means normally restrained, controlling the releasing means, normally inactive icontrolling and braking means, means northe normally restrained releasing means.

3. In combination with a fire-curtain adapted for both manual and automatic operation, of normally restrained means for releasing the curtain for descent, normally inactive braking means, and means successively liberating first the normally inactive braking means and second the normally restrained releasing means.

4. In combination with a iirecurtain adapted for both manual and automatic operation, of means for releasing it for descent, means normally restrained, controlling the releasing means, normally inactive braking means, and means successively liberating first the normally inactive braking means and second the normally restrained releasing means.

5. In combination with a lirecurtain adapted for both manual'and automatic operation, of a normally engaged clutch adapted when disengaged to release the curtain for descent, a weight normally held in elevated position and adapted, when liberated, to disengage the clutch, normally inactive braking means, and means successively causing the Weight to drop and then liberating the Weight.

6. In combination with a firecurtain adapted for both manual and automatic operation, of a normally engaged clutch adapted When disengaged to release the ourtain for descent, a Weight normally held in elevated position and adapted, when liberated, to disengage the clutch, a brake normally disengaged and adapted When engaged to prevent the rapid descent of the curtain, a Weight normally held in elevated position and adapted, when liberated, to set the brake, and a third Weight normally held in elevated position and adapted, When liberated, first to release the second Weight and then to release the first Weight; and a fuse adapted upon melting to release the third Weight.

7. In combination With a fire curtain adapted for both manual and automatic operation, of means for releasing it for de scent, means normally restrained, controlling the releasing means, a brake normally disengaged and adapted When engaged to prevent the rapld descent of the curtain, a

Weight normallyheldLin elevated position" and adapted, When llberated, to set the adapted for both manual and automatic op eration, means for releasing the curtain for descent, a Weight normally held in elevated position and adapted, when liberated, to liberate the releasingmeans, a brake for the curtain, a. eight normally held inelevated position and adapted, When liberated, to set the brake, latches'normally retaining the respective Weights in elevatedposition, a fuse,

a third Weight held in elevated position Wllllllllfl fuse is intact and adapted to be liberated by the melting of the fuse and adapted when liberatedfirst to operate the latch for the second weight and then to operate the latch for theffirst eight.

JOHN T. BOYD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. Q. 

